4 ms·

We’re 10 today

183 points by Vik1ng 12y ago

__Joker 12y ago
I would like to see, some mobile OS bundle OpenSteetMap or a app which becomes a hit on top of OSM. The usablity of any map will be its data, and I feel OSM lacks compared to GMap or Bing map.
- keehun 12y ago
  There are a few power users of OSM. Like, MapQuest and FourSquare. However, either of those have neither the detailed information of Google/Bing nor their popularity, so I see your point.
  - __Joker 12y ago
    Not going into details, I was/am working on map related data. And still using OSM. And would love to see OSM take off.
  - frewsxcv 12y ago
    From my experiences, OSM road/track data far surpasses Google Maps or Bing. What I find it lacks is good POI data, like restaurants, stores, etc.
  - maxerickson 12y ago
    Foursquare doesn't use OSM for places: https://developer.foursquare.com/overview/venues https://developer.foursquare.com/overview/venues I guess Google is doing their own thing, Bing is listed as using Factual: http://factual.com/ http://factual.com/ (Along with Yelp, Trulia, GroupOn, others). Facebook is also in the business of having a landing page for every semi interesting place (I think this is one of the things that drove Google to push Google+ so hard).
- rakoo 12y ago
  There already are many apps based on data coming from OSM. The notorious Apple Maps takes some of its data in OSM. I've also heard good things about City Maps 2 Go [0] [1], which is also based on OSM data. I personnally use OSMAnd [3] on android, which has the benefit of being open source. > I feel OSM lacks compared to GMap or Bing map. OSM compares quite well to contenders when talking about raw geographical data. However, where GMap shines is locations: you can search a shop, a restaurant or a diving club on GMap and it will give you its position. OSM doesn't have this power, which is actually understandable given that OSM's goal is mostly geographical data. [0] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/city-maps-2go-offline-map/id327783342?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/city-maps-2go-offline-map/id... [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ulmon.android.citymaps2go&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ulmon.andr... [2] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OsmAnd http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OsmAnd
  - maxerickson 12y ago
    There's no (or at least very little) resistance to adding POIs to OSM. In well mapped areas, the data in OSM can be a lot more accurate than the geocoded addresses that Google often shows you. There's not really any great search interfaces for it (where part of great is limiting the results to 'nearby'). Komoot/Photon is a nice way to find something you know the name of: http://photon.komoot.de/ http://photon.komoot.de/ And there are people working on displaying the data that is available: http://osm24.eu/index.php#!15/52.5173/13.4032/type=eat/mon=place_all/office=office_all/craft=craft_all/store=store_all/ http://osm24.eu/index.php#!15/52.5173/13.4032/type=eat/mon=p...
- CalRobert 12y ago
  I don't know if it's a "hit", but Ulmon makes maps based on OSM data which are a great resource when traveling. Being usable offline is particularly awesome (and something we should be able to take for granted, but I digress).
- sdk16420 12y ago
  Everything on a map is data. You probably mean labels and business names. For road networks etc I found OSM to beat other maps by a lot. Also keep in mind that the way business can be added on Google Maps for example are all but foolproof.
- chromelyke 12y ago
  Telenav employee here - we've been navigating exclusively on OSM since June for both iOS and Android (Scout Maps App). We also acquired Skobbler earlier in the year, which navigates using OSM if you're outside the US.
  - hkailahi 12y ago
    I've been wanting to look into the Scout/Skobbler SDK for a while now. I'll either be using that or Mapbox for some mobile/web apps. Do you have any insights to push me in your direction?
    - chromelyke 12y ago
      The points that differentiate us depend on your specific application. We have robust routing/turn by turn nav, offline maps, data visualization (heat maps) plus a whole bunch of other common features (custom styling, for example). Definitely check out our dev site, which admittedly lacks some polish but is coming along (http://developer.skobbler.com/ http://developer.skobbler.com/) and let me know if you'd like to talk to one of our SDK guys - they always want to talk to devs about their specific use cases. If you're developing on iOS we've recently created a pod - http://cocoadocs.org/docsets/ScoutMaps-iOS-SDK/2.1.0/ http://cocoadocs.org/docsets/ScoutMaps-iOS-SDK/2.1.0/ Good luck!
BillFranklin 12y ago
Congrats!
hartator 12y ago
Congrats, I am building a project around OSM, that's a bowl of fresh air compared to other platforms! Weird, no party in SF or Austin? Finally, the "hypest" tech cities are the ones which are the less involved in OSM, that's a surprise!
- rmc 12y ago
  Suprisingly OSM does not have a lot of users in USA for it's size. All data (incl. map data) from the US government is public domain, so the USA has access to a lot of free map data. But in Europe (specifically the UK), the government map data is heavily closed. Hence OSM was started in the UK.
  - Vik1ng 12y ago
    But is that public domain data any good? Mappers in the US are still using MapRoulette to clean up Tiger imports etc. I think it's also that many Europeans, especially Germans, are very sceptical of google while in the US google gets a lot of love, especially these days with fiber.
    - rmc 12y ago
      > But is that public domain data any good? No not really. Some people think the import into OSM of TIGER data has hindered the creation of a US OSM community, because the map looks "good enough"/"looks done", when it in reality it's not.
- simantel 12y ago
  There totally is a party in SF! http://www.meetup.com/Maptime-SF/events/199399492/ http://www.meetup.com/Maptime-SF/events/199399492/
erjiang 12y ago
A fun side-by-side comparison of OpenStreetMap in 2007 vs today: https://mvexel.github.io/thenandnow/#10/52.2644/5.2899 https://mvexel.github.io/thenandnow/#10/52.2644/5.2899
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- yutah 12y ago
  Besides a few city names, USA was completely missing in 2007?
  - maxerickson 12y ago
    Much of the progress came from importing the TIGER roads data. I don't know it first hand, but the story is that other maps of the US were in pretty good shape and data was relatively available (either the TIGER data, or from states and counties), so interest wasn't very high.
  - rmc 12y ago
    OSM started in the UK.
acd 12y ago
Congrats and thanks to the developers of openstreetmap! How do we make openseamaps.org better? OpenRov? Robots solar powered?
_pmf_ 12y ago
I find OpenStreetMap to be the perfect example that it is very feasible to beat Goggle at one of its core competences.
- dualogy 12y ago
  Here's hoping for OpenStreetView and OpenAerials ;)
  - hk__2 12y ago
    Mapillary [1] is a crowd-sourced Street View-like with a cc-by-sa license, but it’s far from being usable for now (not enough pictures). [1]: http://www.mapillary.com/ http://www.mapillary.com/
arunmib 12y ago
10 years! Congrats and thanks to all who made openstreetmaps possible.
sdk16420 12y ago
It's not as widespread as Wikipedia yet, but OSM is one of the few community built resources to be used by everyone using computers.
maxxxxx 12y ago
I think the maps are very good but all Android maps I have tried that use OSM have terrible search interface. In Google I can type in "IKEA Burbank" and get the right result. I can't do that in any of the OSM apps. I also need to know in what city a certain street is. I can't do "1234 Foothill, Los Angeles" like in Google but I need to know that this number is in Glendale. If they fixed this I think adoption would go up a lot.
fiatjaf 12y ago
I would like to know about OSM process for separating good contributions from bad ones. Similar non-map projects could benefit from learning how they did and how they do.
- yellowbkpk 12y ago
  There isn't really a process at all. The barrier to entry is so high that those dedicated enough to map usually make it through with good intentions. Mapping is really hard, and even with all the work we (OSM) have done to make it easier, we still get far less than 1 percent of our users to actively contribute.
wpietri 12y ago
Thanks! This reminded me to look up the area I'm visiting today and see what I could do. Turns out there was a big old lake missing, so signed up and added it. Easy and fun!

183 points by Vik1ng 12y ago

I would like to see, some mobile OS bundle OpenSteetMap or a app which becomes a hit on top of OSM. The usablity of any map will be its data, and I feel OSM lacks compared to GMap or Bing map.

keehun 12y ago
There are a few power users of OSM. Like, MapQuest and FourSquare. However, either of those have neither the detailed information of Google/Bing nor their popularity, so I see your point.
- __Joker 12y ago
  Not going into details, I was/am working on map related data. And still using OSM. And would love to see OSM take off.
- frewsxcv 12y ago
  From my experiences, OSM road/track data far surpasses Google Maps or Bing. What I find it lacks is good POI data, like restaurants, stores, etc.
- maxerickson 12y ago
  Foursquare doesn't use OSM for places: https://developer.foursquare.com/overview/venues https://developer.foursquare.com/overview/venues I guess Google is doing their own thing, Bing is listed as using Factual: http://factual.com/ http://factual.com/ (Along with Yelp, Trulia, GroupOn, others). Facebook is also in the business of having a landing page for every semi interesting place (I think this is one of the things that drove Google to push Google+ so hard).
rakoo 12y ago
There already are many apps based on data coming from OSM. The notorious Apple Maps takes some of its data in OSM. I've also heard good things about City Maps 2 Go [0] [1], which is also based on OSM data. I personnally use OSMAnd [3] on android, which has the benefit of being open source. > I feel OSM lacks compared to GMap or Bing map. OSM compares quite well to contenders when talking about raw geographical data. However, where GMap shines is locations: you can search a shop, a restaurant or a diving club on GMap and it will give you its position. OSM doesn't have this power, which is actually understandable given that OSM's goal is mostly geographical data. [0] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/city-maps-2go-offline-map/id327783342?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/city-maps-2go-offline-map/id... [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ulmon.android.citymaps2go&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ulmon.andr... [2] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OsmAnd http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OsmAnd
- maxerickson 12y ago
  There's no (or at least very little) resistance to adding POIs to OSM. In well mapped areas, the data in OSM can be a lot more accurate than the geocoded addresses that Google often shows you. There's not really any great search interfaces for it (where part of great is limiting the results to 'nearby'). Komoot/Photon is a nice way to find something you know the name of: http://photon.komoot.de/ http://photon.komoot.de/ And there are people working on displaying the data that is available: http://osm24.eu/index.php#!15/52.5173/13.4032/type=eat/mon=place_all/office=office_all/craft=craft_all/store=store_all/ http://osm24.eu/index.php#!15/52.5173/13.4032/type=eat/mon=p...
CalRobert 12y ago
I don't know if it's a "hit", but Ulmon makes maps based on OSM data which are a great resource when traveling. Being usable offline is particularly awesome (and something we should be able to take for granted, but I digress).
sdk16420 12y ago
Everything on a map is data. You probably mean labels and business names. For road networks etc I found OSM to beat other maps by a lot. Also keep in mind that the way business can be added on Google Maps for example are all but foolproof.
chromelyke 12y ago
Telenav employee here - we've been navigating exclusively on OSM since June for both iOS and Android (Scout Maps App). We also acquired Skobbler earlier in the year, which navigates using OSM if you're outside the US.
- hkailahi 12y ago
  I've been wanting to look into the Scout/Skobbler SDK for a while now. I'll either be using that or Mapbox for some mobile/web apps. Do you have any insights to push me in your direction?
  - chromelyke 12y ago
    The points that differentiate us depend on your specific application. We have robust routing/turn by turn nav, offline maps, data visualization (heat maps) plus a whole bunch of other common features (custom styling, for example). Definitely check out our dev site, which admittedly lacks some polish but is coming along (http://developer.skobbler.com/ http://developer.skobbler.com/) and let me know if you'd like to talk to one of our SDK guys - they always want to talk to devs about their specific use cases. If you're developing on iOS we've recently created a pod - http://cocoadocs.org/docsets/ScoutMaps-iOS-SDK/2.1.0/ http://cocoadocs.org/docsets/ScoutMaps-iOS-SDK/2.1.0/ Good luck!

BillFranklin 12y ago

Congrats!

hartator 12y ago

Congrats, I am building a project around OSM, that's a bowl of fresh air compared to other platforms! Weird, no party in SF or Austin? Finally, the "hypest" tech cities are the ones which are the less involved in OSM, that's a surprise!

rmc 12y ago
Suprisingly OSM does not have a lot of users in USA for it's size. All data (incl. map data) from the US government is public domain, so the USA has access to a lot of free map data. But in Europe (specifically the UK), the government map data is heavily closed. Hence OSM was started in the UK.
- Vik1ng 12y ago
  But is that public domain data any good? Mappers in the US are still using MapRoulette to clean up Tiger imports etc. I think it's also that many Europeans, especially Germans, are very sceptical of google while in the US google gets a lot of love, especially these days with fiber.
  - rmc 12y ago
    > But is that public domain data any good? No not really. Some people think the import into OSM of TIGER data has hindered the creation of a US OSM community, because the map looks "good enough"/"looks done", when it in reality it's not.
simantel 12y ago
There totally is a party in SF! http://www.meetup.com/Maptime-SF/events/199399492/ http://www.meetup.com/Maptime-SF/events/199399492/

erjiang 12y ago

A fun side-by-side comparison of OpenStreetMap in 2007 vs today: https://mvexel.github.io/thenandnow/#10/52.2644/5.2899 https://mvexel.github.io/thenandnow/#10/52.2644/5.2899

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
yutah 12y ago
Besides a few city names, USA was completely missing in 2007?
- maxerickson 12y ago
  Much of the progress came from importing the TIGER roads data. I don't know it first hand, but the story is that other maps of the US were in pretty good shape and data was relatively available (either the TIGER data, or from states and counties), so interest wasn't very high.
- rmc 12y ago
  OSM started in the UK.

acd 12y ago

Congrats and thanks to the developers of openstreetmap! How do we make openseamaps.org better? OpenRov? Robots solar powered?

_pmf_ 12y ago

I find OpenStreetMap to be the perfect example that it is very feasible to beat Goggle at one of its core competences.

dualogy 12y ago
Here's hoping for OpenStreetView and OpenAerials ;)
- hk__2 12y ago
  Mapillary [1] is a crowd-sourced Street View-like with a cc-by-sa license, but it’s far from being usable for now (not enough pictures). [1]: http://www.mapillary.com/ http://www.mapillary.com/

arunmib 12y ago

10 years! Congrats and thanks to all who made openstreetmaps possible.

sdk16420 12y ago

It's not as widespread as Wikipedia yet, but OSM is one of the few community built resources to be used by everyone using computers.

maxxxxx 12y ago

I think the maps are very good but all Android maps I have tried that use OSM have terrible search interface. In Google I can type in "IKEA Burbank" and get the right result. I can't do that in any of the OSM apps. I also need to know in what city a certain street is. I can't do "1234 Foothill, Los Angeles" like in Google but I need to know that this number is in Glendale. If they fixed this I think adoption would go up a lot.

fiatjaf 12y ago

I would like to know about OSM process for separating good contributions from bad ones. Similar non-map projects could benefit from learning how they did and how they do.

yellowbkpk 12y ago
There isn't really a process at all. The barrier to entry is so high that those dedicated enough to map usually make it through with good intentions. Mapping is really hard, and even with all the work we (OSM) have done to make it easier, we still get far less than 1 percent of our users to actively contribute.

wpietri 12y ago

Thanks! This reminded me to look up the area I'm visiting today and see what I could do. Turns out there was a big old lake missing, so signed up and added it. Easy and fun!